1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connectors for connecting coaxial cables to one another.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrical connectors having coaxial contact structures are typically used to connect two coaxial cables to one another. A coaxial cable has an inner and an outer conductor member which share a common axis. Coaxial cables are often used in applications where it is desirable to operate at high frequencies while reducing the interference of a high frequency signal. For this reason, the outer conductor member of a coaxial cable will often serve as a shield for the inner conductor member which carries the signal. Alternately, the outer conducting member of a coaxial cable may be used to carry an additional signal.
When connecting coaxial cables it is desirable that the coupling has a low mating force, particularly if the coupling is to be ganged with a large number of other couplings. It is also desirable that the coupling has a long life. However, high mating forces in existing couplings make it difficult to achieve a long life, because a high mating force greatly reduces the number of mating cycles a coupling can endure.
In the past, the outer contact structure of a coaxial electrical connector has used hyperbolic contact wires in order to improve the quality of electrical contact in the fashion shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,107,966 and 3,470,527 to F. R. Bonhomme. No one contemplated or explored the possibility of constructing a coaxial connector with an inner cylindrical member having hyperbolic or other conducting wires because of physical and electrical construction constraints inherent in designing such an inherently small inner cylindrical member. For example, these constraints include the size of such wires and whether they could be made sufficiently small to fit inside the inner member and reliably function without failure during repeated connection and disconnection, while not adversely affecting the electrical properties of the connector.